A theory that claims that members of the working class cannot easily acquire cultural capital, hampering their access to education and upward social mobility.

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Speech code

A framework for communication in a given speech community.

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Restricted code

A speech code suitable for insiders who share assumptions and understanding on the topic.

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Elaborated code

A speech code that does not assume that the listener shares these assumptions or understandings.

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Present-time orientation

Seeing the present as more important than the future and so not having long-term goals.

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Collectivism

Valuing being part of a group more than succeeding as an individual.

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Fatalism

A belief in fate.

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Immediate gratification

The satisfactions gained by more impulsive behaviours.

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Cultural capital

Non-financial social assets that promote social mobility beyond economic means.

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Economic capital

Command over economic resources.

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Educational capital

The potential of an individual’s education and other academic experience to be used to gain a place in society.

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Material deprivation

A theory that claims that members of the working class cannot easily acquire material necessities, hampering their access to education and upward social mobility.

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Labelling theory

The theory of how the self-identity and behavior of individuals may be determined or influenced by the terms used to describe or classify them.

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Self-fulfilling prophecy

A prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behaviour.

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Streaming

Separating pupils by academic ability into groups for all subjects within a school.

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Subculture

A group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles.

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Differentiation

The process of teachers categorising pupils according to how they perceive their ability, attitude and/or behaviour.

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Polarism

The process in which pupils respond to streaming by moving towards one of two opposite 'poles' or extremes.

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Retreatism

The rejection of culturally prescribed goals and the conventional means for attaining them.

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Rebellion

A refusal of obedience or order.

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Ingratiation

A psychological technique in which an individual attempts to become more attractive or likeable to their target.

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Ritualism

The act of rejecting traditional cultural goals, but still adhering to the usual steps to obtaining those goals.

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Habitus

A structure of the mind and emotions characterised by a set of acquired schemata, sensibilities, dispositions and taste.

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Symbolic capital

The resources available to an individual on the basis of honor, prestige or recognition. Serves as value that one holds within a culture.

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Symbolic violence

Discipline used against another to confirm that individual's placement in a social hierarchy.

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Social exclusion

Social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society.

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Self-exclusion

Inflicting social exclusion upon oneself.

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Ethnicity

A category of people who identify with each other based on common language, ancestral, social, cultural, or national experiences.

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Ethnic minority

A group of people whose style of life, language, culture and origin differs from the majority.

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Poverty

The state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money.

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Dominant discourse

A way of seeing something.

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Institutional racism

A form of racism expressed in the practice of social and political institutions, as distinct from racism by individuals or informal social groups.

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Ethnocentrism

Judging another culture solely by the values and standards of one's own culture.

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Marketisation

The exposure of an industry or service to market forces.

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The National Curriculum

A nationwide curriculum for primary and secondary state schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

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Stereotype

A thought that can be adopted about specific types of individuals or certain ways of doing things.

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Meritocracy

Government or the holding of power by people selected according to merit.

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Individualism

The social outlook that emphasises the moral worth of the individual.

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Individualisation

A process towards individualism.

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Vocational education

Education that prepares people to work in a trade, in a craft, as a technician, or in support roles in professions.

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Human capital

The stock of knowledge, habits, social and personality attributes embodied in the ability to perform labour so as to produce economic value.

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Ideology

A collection of doctrines or beliefs shared by members of a group.

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Functionalism

A framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability.

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Neoliberalism

The resurgence of 19th century ideas associated with laissez-faire economic liberalism.

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New Right

Various policies or groups that are right-wing. In the UK, it more specifically refers to a strand of Conservatism that the likes of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan influenced.

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Marxism

A method of socioeconomic analysis that analyses class relations and societal conflict using a materialist interpretation of historical development and a dialectical view of social transformation.

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Capitalism

An economic system based on private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit.

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Bourgeoisie

The social class that came to own the means of production during modern industrialisation and whose societal concerns are the value of property and the preservation of capital, to ensure the perpetuation of their economic supremacy in society.

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Proletariat

The class of wage-earners (especially industrial workers), in a capitalist society, whose only possession of significant material value is their labour-power.

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Repressive State Apparatus

Its function is to intervene and act in favour of the ruling class by repressing the ruled class by violent and coercive means.

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Ideological State Apparatus

Its function is to reinforce the rule of the dominant class primarily through ideology.

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Correspondence principle

A sociological theory that posits a close relationship between social standing and the educational system.

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Hidden curriculum

A side effect of an education, "[lessons] which are learned but not openly intended" such as the transmission of norms, values, and beliefs conveyed in the classroom and the social environment.

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The Tripartite System

The arrangement of state-funded secondary education into three types of school.

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Grammar schools (according to the Tripartite System)

Schools that were intended to teach an academic curriculum to the most intellectually able 25% of the school population as selected by the 11+ examination.

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Secondary modern schools

Schools designed for the majority of pupils – those who did not achieve scores in the top 25% of the 11+ examination.

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Secondary Technical Schools

Schools that taught mechanical, scientific and engineering skills to serve industry and science.

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Comprehensive schools

State schools that do not select their intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude.

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Parentocracy

A system in which a child's education must conform to the wealth and wishes of parents rather than the abilities and efforts of the pupil.

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Academy schools

State-funded schools in England which are directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control.

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Free schools

New academies established since 2011 via the Free School Programme.

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Sure Start

A UK Government area-based initiative that had the aim of "giving children the best possible start in life" through improvement of childcare, early education, health and family support, with an emphasis on outreach and community development.

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Education Maintenance Allowance

A financial scheme applicable to students and those undertaking unpaid work-based learning aged between sixteen and nineteen whose parents have a certain level of taxable income.